Syracuse, N.Y. -- This year's state budget included a provision that should make bowhunters happier this fall, in addition to possibly helping urban/suburban communities grappling with the issue of too many deer in their neighborhoods.

The budget includes legislation that reduces the setback requirement for shooting a bow from the current 500 feet to 150 feet for archers, but 250 feet for those using crossbows. To have any effect on urban deer situations, though, additional regulations or provisions must be adopted by the municipality to have any effect.

The legislation took effect when the budget was passed in April and there will be no public comment period for this change in regulations, according to a DEC spokeswoman.

The old regulations prohibited the discharge of a firearm, bow or crossbow within 500 feet of a dwelling without the consent of the owner. It has kept acres of land in urban areas off limits to hunters. The new regulations keep the 500 feet setback in place for firearms.

"In many suburban areas with abundant deer (e.g., Suffolk and Westchester counties and portions of Albany, Monroe, Tompkins counties), we have provided hunters essentially with unlimited tag options for antlerless deer, yet population management has been limited in part because of the 500-foot setback distance that left many areas off limits to hunters and many deer inaccessible for harvest," said DEC Lisa King, a DEC spokeswoman.

"With the new reduced setback distances, bow and crossbow hunters have access to potentially more ground. These hunters would be able to hunt small corridors of deer habitat in suburban environments. This is a great opportunity for hunters to demonstrate how they can safely be a part of the solution for managing suburban deer populations in New York," she added.

King noted, "Some municipalities prohibit all discharge of firearms and bows, and this reduced discharge setback will be of no value in those areas until the municipalities take actions that allow for deer management to occur."

At this point, the city of Syracuse and surrounding towns have formed a joint city/county task force to discuss the deer situation - particularly in the east side of Syracuse and the surrounding towns. The discussions are on-going at this point.

At this point, Syracuse does not allow hunting within the city limits, nor do any of the villages in the surrounding towns.

Advocates of culling the herds in urban/suburban areas elsewhere have generally been using two methods - expert marksmen with firearms who shoot the animals over bait, or expert archers who arrow them over bait.

Both methods are controversial. Gunfire is louder (unless some kind of silencer is used), the most effective and often more controversial. Taking deer with a bow is quieter, but the animals tend to run or wander further away from the specified hunting area after getting hit with an arrow as they bleed to death.

The new regulations could provide a boost for such efforts as the DEC's Deer Management Focus Area in Tompkins County, where the DEC has set up a special, hunting season in January, allowing the taking up to two, antlerless deer a day. A big problem, hunters have said, is the lack of access to private property, coupled with the old setback requirements.

The new setback requirements for bowhunters should not create a safety concern, according to the DEC.

"Archery shots taken at deer are typically discharged either on a horizontal plane or downward trajectory," according to the DEC in its five-year deer management plan. "Most bowhunters prefer to shoot from an elevated position (in treestands) and arrows are discharged directly toward the ground. Bowhunting also typically occurs at much shorter ranges than firearms hunting (around 25 yards or less), meaning that the existence of unwanted objects (or persons) in the field of fire is extremely rare."